97. 'Endtroducing....'

DJ ShadowLondon/Mo Wax, 1996

Unlikely DJ savior Josh Davis nearly did for the turntable what Hendrix did for the guitar – bringing vibrant technical brilliance, wild beauty and multifaceted musical texture to an instrument some rock Luddites still didn't even consider to be an instrument at all. He came out of the Mo Wax trip-hop scene but tracks like "Permanent Slump" and "Changeling" had more in common with the spaced psychedelic rock explorations than they did with whatever DJ Krush was up to. But the rich, crackling beats themselves – culled from countless records discovered over a lifetime of crate digging – reminded everyone what was fun and free about hip-hop.